Melbourne city break guide

An insider's guide to Melbourne and Victoria, featuring the best hotels, restaurants, bars, shops, attractions and things to do, including how to travel there and around. By Cristian Bonetto, Telegraph Travel's Melbourne expert. Click on the tabs below for the best places to stay, eat, drink and shop, including the best things to do and what to do on a short break.

Theatre, fine food and competitive sport are really the dominant forces in Melbourne – not the changing seasons.

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Melbourne is a place obsessed with art, food and coffee, packed with switched-on galleries, architectural flourishes and iconic music venues.

Unlike Perth, Sydney and the Gold Coast, Melbourne has not given its soul to the beach.

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Birthplace of Australian Rules Football, host of the 1956 Olympic Games, home of both the Australian Open and the Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne can rightly claim to be the sportiest city in a country where sport is the only true religion.

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There's thrills and spills at Melbourne's Luna Park.

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Victoria is also Australia’s most compact state, which means the Great Ocean Road, the Yarra Valley and Phillip Island with its fairy penguins are right on the doorstep.

After stints as a playwright and TV scriptwriter, Cristian Bonetto found his true calling as a hoarder of air miles. The Melbourne-born travel writer has contributed to countless Lonely Planet travel guides, covering destinations as diverse as Italy, Denmark, Sweden, Singapore and New York City. Beyond Lonely Planet, his musings have appeared in a string of publications, including BBC Travel, 7X7, and Corriere del Mezzogiorno. Despite the frequent take-offs and landings, Melbourne remains Cristian's home, a city whose hidden nooks he has been exploring for almost 40 years. Visit him on twitter @CristianBonetto.

Why go?

Melbourne is Australia's undisputed cool kid. The other capitals might fawn over their Melbourne-style cafés, bars and laneways, but only Melbourne delivers the real deal.

A notoriously temperamental climate forced this city to look indoors and inward from an early age. The result is a moody, complex, deep-thinking metropolis more akin to Berlin than Brisbane - a place obsessed with art, food and coffee, packed with switched-on galleries, architectural flourishes, independent bookshops, cafés, and iconic music venues.

Unlike Perth, Sydney and the Gold Coast, Melbourne has not given its soul to the beach.

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Beyond Melbourne's urban enlightenment is a state of prized wineries and sophisticated spas, millennia-old rainforests, snow-dusted mountains, and a wild, rugged coastline that will steal both your breath and heart away.

When to go

Summer is the most popular season with visitors, with the longest days and good beach weather (especially from January to mid-March). The Australian Open (January) draws huge crowds to Melbourne.

Victoria is also Australia’s most compact state, which means the Great Ocean Road, the Yarra Valley and Phillip Island with its fairy penguins are right on the doorstep.

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Autumn is arguably the best season: days are warm to mild; blazing foliage graces Victoria's parks; and Melbourne's festival season revs up with the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival (February-March), International Flower and Garden Show (March), and International Comedy Festival (March-April).

Winters are grey and chilly, but always atmospheric. The AFL (Australian Rules Football) season is in full swing, the ski slopes are open for business, and the major cultural events continue, among them the Melbourne International Film Festival (July-August) and the National Gallery of Victoria's Winter Masterpieces exhibition (mid-May to August).

Spring offers spring blooms and sporadic weather. Winter is over and there's a celebratory feeling in air, with big-scale events including the AFL Grand Final (September), Fringe Festival (September-October), Melbourne Festival (October), and all the millinery, glamour and galloping of the Melbourne Cup Carnival (November).

Melbourne can rightly claim to be the sportiest city in a country where sport is the only true religion.

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Know before you go

Tourist office and information: The Melbourne Visitor Centre (00 61 3 9658 9658; visitmelbourne.com) is on Federation Square, right across from Flinders Street Station. Open daily, 9am-6pm. A smaller information booth is located in the Bourke Street Mall, between Swanston and Elizabeth Streets. Open daily, 9am-5pm. Tourist information is also available in the Arrivals Hall at Melbourne International Airport.

Currency: Australian dollar. Prices are rounded off to the nearest 5c (1c and 2c coins are not used in Australia).

Time: +10 hours (+11 hours during daylight savings Oct-Mar)

Travel times: Flying time from London to Melbourne is around 21.5 to 23 hours. Flying time from Sydney to Melbourne is around 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Local laws and etiquette: In the Central Business District (City Centre), many intersections require you to make a right turn from the left lane in order to keep tram tracks clear. This is called a hook turn, marked with a 'Right Turn From Left Only' sign, either overhead or to the side of the road. Approach and enter the intersection from the left lane and indicate that you are turning right. Move forward to the far left of the intersection, keeping clear of pedestrian crossings and remain stationary until the traffic lights on the road you are turning into have gone green, then turn right.

Tipping: As in the UK, tipping in restaurants and cafes is customary not compulsory. If you receive good service, 10% of the bill would be reasonable. If you wish to tip your hotel porter, A$2 to A$5 per bag is a suitable amount. In taxis, you may choose to round up the payment to the nearest dollar.

Melbourne sets the pace when it comes to fashion, theatre, design and architecture.